Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest (French:Concours Eurovision de la chanson), often shortened to ESC or Eurovision, is the longest-running annual TV song competition, held, primarily, among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy.

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956, and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100million and 600million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to several countries that do not compete, such as the USA and China. An exception was made in 2015, when Australia was allowed to compete as a guest entrant as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia would return in 2016. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, via the Eurovision website.

Eurovision Song Contest 1960

The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on Tuesday 29 March 1960 in London. Although the Netherlands had won the contest in 1959, the Netherlands Television Foundation declined to host another contest so soon after staging the event in 1958. The honour of hosting the contest therefore passed to the United Kingdom, which had come second in 1959. Therefore, the BBC chose Catherine Boyle (as she was then known) to be the mistress of ceremonies at the contest for the first time. France's win this year was their second in the contest. The contest was won by France with the song "Tom Pillibi", performed by Jacqueline Boyer.

The contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak with his self-penned "Fairytale", which received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, at the time the highest total score in the history of the contest and with a margin of 169 points over the second place which went to Iceland. Third place went to Azerbaijan, fourth to Turkey, and the United Kingdom taking 5th, seeing their best placing since 2002.

After criticism of the voting system after the 2007 Contest, changes in the voting procedure were made with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Forty-two countries participated in the contest; Slovakia announced that it would return to the contest, while San Marino withdrew due to financial issues. Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of contest rules.

Latest News for: eurovision song contest 2015

During the Eurovisionsongcontest last night in Lisbon (May 12), UK singer SuRie’s set was interrupted by a stage invader who grabbed the microphone and criticised the UK media... The annual contest was won by Israel ... EurovisionMeansEurovision! – the songcontest in the time of Brexit ... SuRie – real name SusannaCork – has performed at the Eurovisionsongcontest in years previous....

Whilst it was a night of high drama and disappointment for the United Kingdom at Eurovision 2018, there is still plenty to be positive about – as the contest producer says the UK can definitely win again ... We all have to realise that there is no such thing as a Eurovisionsong.’ ... Germany has been last at the EurovisionSongContest in 2015 and 2016 ... SuRie decides not to perform her Eurovision final songStorm again after stage invader....

Germany looks set to recapture their EurovisionSongContest magic this year after a string of bad results ... He is seen as a serious dark horse to capture a surprise third EurovisionSongContest win with You Let MeWalkAlone ... Pain and pride will ensure the juries remember this song and it could well pick up enough points from enough juries to spring Germany to the top of the leader board in a wide open EurovisionSongContest....

‘This will be my 20thEurovisionsongcontest, it’s hard to believe that I’ve gone to 20 and it’s changed so much in the last 20 years ... The unapologetic campiness of the EurovisionSongContest, which turned 60 in 2015, has not been lost on Kevin throughout the years, and he’s certainly witnessed some sights in his time as a super fan ... ‘The nicest people I’ve met at the Eurovisionsongcontest are Jedward.’ ... EurovisionSongContest....

Check out Austria’s first EurovisionSongContest rehearsal here. There’s no doubt about it, it would be an incredible stage to see again at the end of the EurovisionSongContest final on Saturday 12 ... Austria is not one of the big EurovisionSongContest heavyweights, but ConchitaWurst’s Eurovision win in 2015 turned around the nation’s fortunes....

Although Avicii never competed at the EurovisionSongContest, he was a leading light in the Swedish and global music scenes and co-wrote the theme music for the 2013 EurovisionSongContest in Malmo...Sweden’s 2015EurovisionSongContest winner Mans Zelmerlow, who also co-hosted the United Kingdom’sEurovision selection show Eurovision ... Why Russia’s 2018 EurovisionSongContest entrant Julia Samoylova won’t break in Lisbon....

Of all the acts ever to step up and win the EurovisionSongContest, Abba remain the most famous ... Abba were the first ever Swedish winners of the contest but they’ve proved pretty successful since then with five further Eurovision wins – in 1974, 1991, 1999, 2012 and most recently 2015. This year’s EurovisionSongContest takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 8, 10 and 12....

Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment in Tel Aviv at IsraelCalling, the biggest preview event for this year's EurovisionSongContest, SuRie revealed&nbsp;that the competition is "starting to feel very real" and that she is "ready for it" ... She was as a backing singer for Belgium’s Loic Nottet during the EurovisionSongContest in 2015....

Elina is second favourite to take the Eurovision 2018 trophy (Picture. Eurovision.tv). Estonia is the second favourite to win the EurovisionSongContest with Elina Nechayeva’s pop-opera entry La Forza ... It won the EurovisionSongContest in 2001 with Tanel Padar and DaveBenson’s Everybody but recent form has been patchy ... The EurovisionSongContest takes place on Saturday 12 May at 8pm....

After months of heats, national finals and broadcaster announcements, we finally know the 43 acts competing at the 2018 EurovisionSongContest in Lisbon...Estonia won the EurovisionSongContest in 2001 and came third on home gound in 2002, but haven’t come close to repeating that success since ... All is not lost, Austria’s ConchitaWurst was an 80/1 outsider at this stage before going on to win the 2015EurovisionSongContest....